Smartsheet

Avantages

SmartSheet is a cloud-based tool that helps Project Managers better align their resources, cost and time. Being a part of a virtual team responsible for collaborating whilst managing critical projects, Smartsheet has been indispensable in helping us track project timeline through interactive Gantt charts, establish critical paths, manage team resources, analyze budget and costs, in addition, to document sharing through OneDrive, Skype and even the app.
It is definitely reliable, has a simple user interface, flexibility in function, offers real-time data tracking through dashboards and training additional collaborators is uncomplicated. I love how SmartSheet offers a powerful conditional formatting feature, visualization of data that is editable and printable for presentations and has a spreadsheet-like interface (like Excel) yet is straightforward, unlike its counterparts.
Another thumbs up feature is that SmartSheet offers a 30-day trial wherein full functionality can be tested and project plans produced before actually investing in the software!

Inconvénients

Our firm works from Sunday to Thursday (unlike the USA) and though they are advised well ahead, maintenance windows don't always align with our schedule, and we have to work around that. One attribute that can definitely be improved is the option of turning on auto-save, instead of manually saving the document. Often the development of a comprehensive project plan across several collaborators is quite intense and even if one of them fails to manually save the document, it is quite a hassle.

Avantages

Smartsheet has so much going for it. It truly fits the new technological world that we live in by providing more than just the basics. Being a cloud-based application (SaaS), and compatible with mobile devices, makes it more functional across the board. It mostly touts itself as a project management tool, which is very true. Most project managers utilize certain applications that require the project to be saved down to a file, which is not easily shareable. Smartsheet can handle the same project management tools and live in cyberspace that can be utilized by numerous people, which different levels of access (viewing, editing, administering) and different views (tasks, gantt, kanban, etc.), and allow people to make comments, add attachments, and more. The most use I have made of Smartsheet within my organization is using it like a spreadsheet. I'm able to have numerous sheets for different departments where they have access to only their own sheets and update only what they need to update. Then I can create a new sheet that combines information from all of the sheets that will auto-update from the original sheets. I can also create reports and dashboards (with charts, metrics, etc.) based on information from all the different sheets. It's quite functional and utilizes much of the same fundamental logic that Excel provides. The Smartsheet website has an extremely detailed (and searchable) Help section and very active Community. Even includes videos to help guide!

Inconvénients

Smartsheet does have some limitations. Most specifically, it isn't Excel and it isn't Project, so users shouldn't expect it to do everything those applications can do. However, there are times when it seems obvious that a particular functionality should be included that isn't. With that said, Smartsheet does a great job of listening to the Community and is constantly improving the application with enhancements to help the Community with its most voted on requests. Another thing that is frustrating is when an error pops up. More often than not, the error is written in a way that doesn't tell the user how to fix the error. Again, when this happens, I just reach out to the Community and get the answers I need.

Avantages

SmartSheet allows individuals and teams to work projects together, plotting milestones and critical paths, tracking tasks, creating alerts, and using gantt charts to quickly view how various team members are allocated and intersect. It does a good job of integrating with Office 365, allowing you to share links to files in OneDrive and to Skype within SmartSheet. The revamped interface makes it closer to working in Excel, which is the really the whole premise to Smartsheet: providing a familiar spreadsheet interface for working projects. To that end, there is a wealth of functionality for formatting cells to indicate project stages, task completion, etc. You can even apply conditional logic to have cells change color when a task reaches a certain stage. There are good controls for determining levels of access, so you prevent changes to your sheet except by authorized persons. Overall, it's a good tool for managing projects.

Inconvénients

The reporting functionality we paid extra for is a joke. Instead, we've resorted to pulling data into Microsoft's Power BI to create reports and visualize data. And like many other Cloud-based services, there's a core product and then tiers of functionality that cost significantly more. Smartsheet is a capable product, but I'm frankly unsure it's cost is justified by its maturity. I've had the feeling I've been paying for what's coming, not for what's already there. But since we've invested in it, I guess we'll stay the course.

Avantages

Smartsheet is an amazing product and helps keep our whole company on schedule and collaborating in real time. It is really flexible and easy to start using.

Once you have used it for a while, you will want to do more and more with it, and there never seems to be a limit to what you can do. They are also constantly adding new helpful features. One that was really useful to me was a kanban view called cardview. But there is also classic spreadsheet view, gannt view, and calendar view.

In addition to sheets, you can also run reports off the sheets which filter the data down for particular users or departments. These reports can be editable or read-only. You can also look at your data in real time using dashboards.

We have been using Smartsheet for several years now, and we still feel like we are only scratching the surface of its capabilities.

Another great feature is that you can have unlimited free collaborators. These people can use the sheets/reports/dashboard and enter data. However, it is only the paid users who can create and maintain the sheets. Over time, you may find more people in your organisation want to be creators, and it is easy to add licenses as needed.

Inconvénients

There's not much I can say negative about this software. On rare occasions there can be unexpected outages or loss of functionality, but that is very rare indeed. There are sometimes maintenance windows on the weekend which can last up to 4 hours at a time, but these are advised well ahead of time. I think the only business that wouldn't want to use smartsheet is one that operates 24/7. If you are a normal Monday to Friday business, smartsheet will be fine for you.

Avantages

Not as complicated and cumbersome as MS Project, which tries too hard to apply complicated logic to your project plans. Smartsheet simply gives you the ability to create plans of any level of complexity. Conditional formatting allows easy review of start/finish dates and who is assigned what.

Collaboration is easy and effective as you can share with different levels of permission, and export only those elements you want others to see and work with. Having the product in the cloud makes access simple and reliable. Only once in 3 years have I not been able to access my project plan immediately, and even then it was up within 5 minutes.

Easy to learn and train others on, so you can bring collaborators in quickly. Easy to edit as it uses all the intuitive elements of cut/paste and drag/drop.

Vendor has been helpful when needed, but mostly in the background which is what I want. I just need functioning software and a place to go for help, not endless tips and promotions.

Inconvénients

Creating a backup is a challenge. It's not intuitive and involves way too many menus and steps. There should be a simple way to create a backup offline for audit or versioning purposes.

There needs to be an auto-save feature. I've had new collaborators lose their work because they forgot to manually save. For a product that operates with the ease of Google Docs in the cloud, the expectation is that there is an auto save feature. The 10-minute reminder message is not sufficient.